Apocalyptic Raids 1990 A.D.
I must say that I was a bit disapointed at Hellhammer when i first heard
them. Everyone I've heard has always praised Hellhammer as the greatest
of all time and the creator of the black metal scene (besides Venom of
course). Anyway, the music is very dark
and much deathier then the more trashy Venom. Anyone who's heard Celtic
Frost will recognize this. As most of you know, Hellhammer was buried and
Celtic Frost rose in it's place. The riffs are still more trashy then the
later Celtic Frost stuff and so is the solos. I think that this is heavy
influenced by Black Sabbath rather
then Kiss like Venom and Bathory are. There are a few other influences
here aswell but they are not as easy to hear. (I can't place them myself,
but I know I've heard some of it before). This album happens to be a
re-release of an old EP from 1984 now
with a couple of bonus tracks. There aren't any real releases done by
Hellhammer (At least not that I know of ) besides this, so its a bit hard
to judge their music in comperesion to their other stuff. The production
I must say isn't very good, but then
again, it's twelve years old. On the vocals are of course Tom
G. Warrior, with his highly unique hoarse voice is easy to
recognize but difficult to copy. Some of his screams sounds like he has
been scared by a big, fat hairy spider or something, while other
ones are plainly sick and demented yelling and moaning. There are a
couple of truly remarkable riffs, but most are medioker with todays
standard. But back then, this was the worst thing ever produced (perhaps
besides Bathory).
Rated 
Satanic Rites
There's only 2 songs on the EP. above that's not featured here aswell, but
this demo has alot of songs it hasn't. Enough to fill one side of a 90 min
tape. Many of the classics are here and I perfer this over the EP.
eventhough my copy has better sound quality then this. But this isn't
about sound quality, right. The recording and production is about the same
and one might guess that they are recorded at the same time. The only
negative is a slight defect in the sound on the title track, but I guess
that that just has to do with my tape's poor quality. This is even today
one of the most original Deathy Thrash bands that forces you to bang the
head to the primitive riffs. A true classic.
Rated